The Daily: Altcoin Panic, Stablecoin Takeover

There’s blood in the streets, the water and everywhere else you may care to look today as the cryptocurrency market plunges below $200 billion with a vengeance. We’ve got the reaction from across the web in today’s Bitcoin in Brief, as well as the latest developments from the realm of stablecoins, which have been an oasis of calm amidst all the blood-letting.

Crypto Capitulation Sets In

The bottom isn’t in until all hope is lost, the aphorism goes. While it would take a brave man to predict that precise point, the end is surely nigh, at which point the market can bounce and begin its painful recovery. We’ll provide a market update later today detailing the losses across the board and suggesting where we may be headed from here. For now, let’s just take a moment to soak up the sentiment from around the web. On Reddit’s r/cryptocurrency board, traders are counting their losses:

…while on 4chan’s /biz/ messageboard, the sentiment is much the same, but with more pink wojaks thrown in to accentuate the despair:

With cryptocurrencies such as IOTA, BNB, and Vechain nursing 20% losses in a single day – 25% in the case of the latter – the market is looking very ugly indeed. It takes a brave soul to to stomach looking at their portfolio today. The total value of the cryptocurrency market has now dropped to $194 billion at the time of publication, with bitcoin dominance reaching 53.5%.

Stablecoins Shine as Makerdai Partners with Wyre

Just three cryptocurrencies in the top 100 are showing signs of green right now, and predictably they’re all stablecoins. Tether is within a whisker of passing cardano to ease into eight place by market cap, while trueusd (86th) and dai (99th) have now sneaked into the top 100. Makerdao, the creators of the dollar-pegged dai, have released details today of a partnership with money transfer service Wyre. As a result, businesses in over 30 countries including the US now have access to the dai stablecoin.

“As part of our mission to level the economic playing field, we’re thrilled to work with Wyre to offer developers a way to build seamless connections to and from a world of fiat currencies and Dai, giving organizations access to a truly decentralized and stable currency pegged to the US dollar,” said Makerdao CEO Rune Christensen. “Expanding the Maker ecosystem, organizations can now benefit from the instant, secure and scalable power of blockchain without having to first buy/sell volatile crypto assets like Ethereum or Bitcoin.”

While we would normally plead a case for the reduced volatility of major crypto assets such as ETH, on a day like today, he’s got a point.

Today’s top performers are all stablecoins

Crypto Conference Season is Coming

The second wave of 2018’s cryptocurrency conferences, following the flurry of events surrounding Consensus New York that occurred in springtime is looming. While the prospect of mingling with thousands of like-minded souls, each feeling equally despondent about their portfolio, may seem bleak, there’s ample time for the markets to buck up. By the time Coinsbank’s crypto cruise departs Barcelona on September 7, bound for Monte Carlo, spirits should have lifted. Landlubbers unable to make the boat can attend the onshore Futurama Blockchain Innovators Summit, a sister event in Ibiza running from September 10-13, culminating with the cruise ship docking for a climactic sunset BBQ party.

Later that month, Lyon in France hosts the Blockchain Game Summit, scheduled for September 25-26. Representatives from Cryptokitties, Decentraland, and Consensys will all be speaking at the event. Finally, if ethereum is still alive by October, developers will be congregating in Prague for Devcon4, which kicks off on the 30th in the Czech capital. The markets might be in turmoil right now, but there are better times ahead. That much can be said for certain.